[open] and if everything's gone bad, we'll make it alright

[Narcisus]

Weird IS a compliment. A compliment good enough for Sixteen and good enough for Sixteen to turn around and use on me. I know that some horses use the word to describe things they don’t understand… They say it with their eyes all squinty like and sometimes in a tone of voice that makes me think they’ve got nasty food stuck in their teeth, but I reserve the word for horses that I genuinely like and not the other way around.

Sixteen is weird and that’s a good thing. He’s got a weird smile and a weird way of asking me questions, but this is the most fun I’ve had outside of the Den so I drink the attention up for lack of better things to do. “Pan-gee-uh?” I ask rhetorically, trying out the word to make sure I’ve got it right. He says it’s hot there but I’ve got no real internal gauge of just how hot the wasteland flats could get. In my mind, I can only imagine the hottest summer days and I don’t think those are so bad. Pangea sounds nice if it’s hot like summer all the time.

“I like hot!” I tell Sixteen quickly, afraid he might think I’m too much of a baby for admitting otherwise. “I love hot. I’m the King of Hot!” I laugh aloud, flapping my little wings. If Sixteen could live in Pan-gee-uh then so could I!

“What do you want to be King of?” I asked Sixteen, shaking my head. The gnats and pests out here were bugging the crap out of me.

@[sixteen]